When eating grilled meats or poultry, its always nice to have something with it that serves as its foil.  Something to cleanse the pallet, so to speak, so that with each new bite, your mouth is reawakened to the flavors.  This is a lovely summer salad to enjoy with grilled chicken.  It has a honey ginger dressing to help liven up any hot summer evening.

Serve it over fresh greens.  I keep the couscous and greens separate, until serving so that I can save any leftovers for my lunch.  This tastes even better the next day.  I use a minced ginger you can buy in a jar, it helps speed the process and it is very good.  My greens are a baby spinach salad mix.

You’ll need:

For the dressing, whisk together the following until well combined

1 1/2 Tbs grated fresh ginger

1/4 cup local honey

2 Tbs white wine vinegar

2 Tbs lime juice (I like key lime for this)

1 medium clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup good olive oil

fresh ground black pepper, to taste

For the salad…

2/3 cup uncooked couscous

1 cup of water

1 Tbs butter

1/2 cup pistachios, whole or coarsely chopped

1/2 cup dried apricots or peaches, thinly sliced

1 cup fresh red seedless grapes, halved

1/4 cup red onion, chopped fine

4 cups of fresh salad greens, your choice

Boil water, add butter and couscous and remove from heat.  Let stand 5 minutes, then fluff with fork.  Add 1/2 of the dressing, nuts, fruit and onion and toss well.  Add salt and pepper to taste and toss again.  Serve over greens with remaining dressing.  Enjoy!